


ostranenie

by emmaofmisthaven



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-03 03:46:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11523879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmaofmisthaven/pseuds/emmaofmisthaven
Summary: (n.) encouraging people to see commonthings as strange, wild or unfamiliar;defamiliarising what is known in order toknow it differently or more deeply.(The Doctor goes around, just because.)





	ostranenie

**Author's Note:**

> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> that is all

She laughs so loudly, her head thrown back and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, that it makes the Doctor smile too. She looks so young, round baby face and 00s fashion, neon pink hoodie hanging loose on her shoulders, unlaced sneakers on her feet. The perfect picture of her time. She grabs a couple of chips and shoved them in her mouth, choking on the food as her friend tells another joke – just a group of teenage girls sitting on the steps of Potters Field Park and sharing a moment in the sun.

The Doctor shoves her hands in the pockets of her coat, and forces herself to look away. In exactly three days, young Rose Tyler will fight alien mannequins and grab a man’s hand and wonder if all planets have a north. In exactly three days, young Rose Tyler will see her world turned upside down, will discover a life of endless possibilities.

But for now, she is only an eighteen-year-old girl in London, eating too many chips and laughing too loudly. And maybe that is enough, the knowledge that she has three more days of teenage bliss before she takes her first steps toward the Bad Wolf, toward her destiny. The Doctor hopes she will enjoy those three days, even if she isn’t aware of their importance.

With one last glance, and one last smile, the Doctor turns away. The TARDIS awaits her just a block away, but she stops at a street vendor to buy an ice cream – she craves sugar in this body, it’s new – and enjoys a few minutes of British summer too.

“Isn’t it kinda hot for a coat?”

Her hearts drop in her chest as she turns around and meets familiar hazel eyes. She forces a smile on her lips as she shrugs her answer. “Never know, with London’s weather.”

Rose grins, flashing those dimples the Doctor loves so much. “You’re not wrong.”

“I rarely ever am.”

That makes her laugh even as she orders her own ice cream and pays the vendor. The Doctor forces herself to leave, because she has to, because she doesn’t know how she can handle the sight of Rose eating an ice cream without her mind going to the gutter.

Her back is to Rose when a phone suddenly starts ringing, and next thing she hears is, “Hi mum!” She smiles once more – some things truly never change.

 

…

 

Donna is married now – that’s a funny thought. She drives her husband bonkers and has a nice, comfortable job, and no memories of being the most important woman in the universe. But she is happy, and perhaps it is enough. She will never truly be the same, never be as confident as she was up until the end but – she is happy. That has to count for something.

The Doctor doesn’t approach her. Her face isn’t the same, but she doesn’t want to take the risk, doesn’t want to step on the butterfly that would lead to the tsunami. So she contents herself with watching from afar, hoodie hiding her features and eyes never leaving Donna’s face. She’s laughing, and speaking loudly, and complaining about this or that thing, and commanding everyone around, because some things truly never change.

They are celebrating – something. A birthday or a weeding, or something, in the garden, and everyone is here. Everyone who matters to her, or so she believes.

The Doctor is about to move on when the front door opens and Wilfred comes out, rubbish bags in his hands. There is no avoiding him, so the Doctor sends a smile his way before she starts walking. His frown follows her down the street, but she will be long gone before he even thinks of the possibility that…

 

…

Paradoxes are a funny thing, and even the Doctor knows to stay away from them.

Paradoxes.

Fixed points.

Everything.

Her fingers brush against the cold marble, wavering a little. “Hello, Ponds,” she says softly, looking down at their names engraved into the stone.

It will have to be enough.

 

…

 

She meets Luke Smith in a library.

He talks and talks and talks, and she misses Sarah Jane very deeply.

 

…

 

Susan…

Not yet.

 

…

 

They have gatherings one a month; their little alien book club of sorts.

Martha hasn’t aged a day, her hair now in dreadlocks and the tilt of her chin high and proud. Mickey is starting to go grey around the edges, and it makes her smirk. Jack – Jack looks old, so old, too old. She wonders how many deaths he has been through since the last time, how many he could have avoided if she’d been here. She could, should have helped. She could always do so much more, but she can’t be everywhere at once.

Jack is the first one to see her, because of course he is. His eyes sweep the room before finding her leaning against a wall, and he gives her his best Harkness smile, to which she replies by raising her glass to him with a wink. It takes him one, two, three whole seconds before the flirty grin turns into a frown, turns into something else. Questions. Doubts. Realisation.

Martha, clever Martha, notices something is wrong, and asks him in hushed tones. He looks to her, then back to the Doctor, then to her again, before telling her something excitedly. The words are lost on the Doctor, but the meaning isn’t, not when three pairs of eyes settle on her all of a sudden.

She pushes herself away from the wall, and approaches them. Jack is gleeful now, looking younger, healthier. Good. She would hate for him to meet his fate too early, it would be a waste of a pretty face.

“Doctor?” Martha is the one to ask.

The Doctor grins at the three of them. “Long time no see.”

It is quite the understatement, but neither of them point it out. Instead, Mickey’s eyes widen and Martha laughs, and Jack is. Well. _Jack_. “Gotta say, I liked that first version of you better.”

It does make her laugh, and she allows herself to admit she’s missed him. The Doctor moves forward and rarely ever look back, but melancholy is too strong an emotion to shake, when the TARDIS is empty and silent but for the purring of her engines.

“How about one last trip?” she asks. “For old time’s sake.”

They were never able to resist.


End file.
